The Los Angeles Times has announced a new round of layoffs affecting about 14 employees, reflecting ongoing financial struggles under billionaire owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong. The cuts come after previous layoffs that have reduced the newsroom staff by 6% and included high-profile departures like executive editor Kevin Merida. The cuts are part of a broader trend affecting the newspaper over the last 15 months, where a significant portion of the workforce has been reduced amidst controversies surrounding editorial decisions and ownership influence.
New York Times media reporter Ben Mullin was the first to report on coming layoffs, posting on X that "roughly a dozen employees" were being let go from the LA Times' El Segundo office.
The Los Angeles Times Guild, a media union representing much of the newsroom, corroborated the cuts, saying: "We are devastated that 14 of our Guild members will receive layoff notices today."
Fallout from the cuts included executive editor Kevin Merida, a highly respected journalist...who reportedly clashed with Soon-Shiong on a number of topics (including the layoffs) before choosing to depart from the paper.
In the fall, a cascade of editors also left the paper when Soon-Shiong waded into the paper's opinion section to abruptly announce that California's largest newspaper would not endorse a presidential candidate.
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